[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 4 (Friday, January 6, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2074-2076]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-280]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service


Swan Lake-Lake Tyee Intertie Transmission Line

AGENCY: Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: Ketchikan Public Utilities proposes to build and operate a 115 
kV electric transmission line in Southeast Alaska between the 
switchyard of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Station on Revillagigedo 
Island and the switchyard at the Lake Tyee Hydroelectric Station the 
Alaska mainland. The proposed new line would be a single-circuit 115 kV 
line having three conductors and no shield wire. The proposed action 
would intertie the electrical systems of Ketchikan Public Utilities, 
Petersburg Municipal Power and Light, and Wrangell Municipal Light and 
Power. [[Page 2075]] 
    The proposed intertie would lie within a corridor identified during 
an earlier feasibility study as the ``preferred site'' of the 
transmission line. The corridor is approximately 57 miles long and one 
mile wide and lies almost entirely on National Forest System land 
(Tongass National Forest) administered by the U.S. Forest Service. The 
corridor follows lower elevations to minimize visual impacts, avoid 
steep and unstable areas, and avoid extreme weather conditions. A 200-
foot-wide right-of-way would be cleared for the transmission line. The 
line would require long aerial crossings at Eagle Bay, Bell Arm, the 
Behm Canal, and Shrimp Bay with span lengths of approximately 2,000, 
1,200, 4,000, and 2,000 feet, respectively. There are variations of 
portions of the preferred route in the vicinity of Orchard Lake, Behm 
Canal, and Eagle Lake and River.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of this project should be received 
by March 7, 1995. Public scoping meetings are scheduled during this 
comment period in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Juneau. The 
location and time of the meetings will be announced in the local media.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning the scope 
of this project to Linn W. Shipley, Acting District Ranger, Tongass 
National Forest, Ketchikan Ranger District, Attn: Swan Lake-Lake Tyee 
EIS, 3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Questions about the proposal and the EIS should be directed to Becky 
Cross, EIS Liaison, Tongass National Forest, Ketchikan Ranger District, 
3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901, Telephone (907) 225-2148.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Possible variations to the basic 
transmission line intertie include construction and use of an access 
road to serve the majority of the line from Eagle Bay to Carroll Inlet. 
The access road would not connect with any existing road and would not 
provide access between the project area and Ketchikan or another urban 
area. In addition to construction access, the road is intended to 
provide maintenance access to the transmission line. To the extent 
feasible, some portions of the road would follow the transmission line 
right-of-way for direct access to clearing and construction operations. 
The assumed road specifications are: a maximum grade of about 10 
percent; a curve radius of about 100 feet; a shotrock surface about 14 
feet wide and 24 to 30 inches deep; corrugated metal pipe culverts or 
small bridges to cross permanent and intermittently flowing stream 
channels; and incorporation of any nearby logging roads or other 
vehicular trails into the access road where feasible.
    An alternative to aerial crossings of large water bodies is use of 
submarine crossings of Bell Arm, the Behm Canal, and Shrimp Bay. The 
aerial conductors would connect to a terminal station or structure on 
the shore near the water body and continue as self-contained fluid-
filled or dielectric cables underwater to the opposite shore, where 
they would pass through a terminal station to continue as aerial 
conductors.
    To meet Ketchikan's energy needs, other alternatives which may be 
considered could include development of new power generation in the 
Ketchikan area and electrical load conservation measures. Finally, a no 
action alternative will be considered.
    The EIS will be prepared under Council on Environmental Quality 
(CEQ) regulations governing third party contracts. Ketchikan Public 
Utilities, the project proponent, has contracted with Foster Wheeler 
Environmental Corporation, an environmental consulting firm based in 
Washington State, to conduct the field studies and environmental 
analyses, direct public involvement activities, and prepare the EIS for 
the project. The third party is the Forest Service, which will be the 
lead agency and which also is the deciding and permitting agency for 
the proposal. Linn Shipley, the Acting District Ranger of the Ketchikan 
Ranger District, must decide whether to issue a Special Use Permit to 
Ketchikan Public Utilities permitting the intertie to cross the Tongass 
National Forest. Foster Wheeler Environmental will be responsible to 
the Forest Service for preparing an EIS that meets NEPA regulations and 
Forest Service procedures.
    Public participation will be an integral component of the study 
process and will be especially important at several junctures of the 
analysis. The first is during the scoping process. The Forest Service 
is seeking information, comments, and assistance from Federal, State, 
and local agencies, individuals, and organizations that may be 
interested in, or affected by, the proposed activities. The objectives 
of the scoping process are to (1) identify the affected public and 
agency concerns, and level of concern, (2) define the issues and 
alternatives that will be examined in detail in the EIS, (3) eliminate 
insignificant issues, and (4) identify analysis needs. In addition to 
the scoping meetings mentioned above, written scoping comments are 
being solicited through a scoping package that will be sent to those on 
the project mailing list. For the Forest Service to best use the 
scoping input, comments should be received within 60 days of the 
publication of this Notice in the Federal Register . The following 
preliminary issues have been identified:
    1. Will construction-related air emissions affect the air quality 
of the study area and Misty Fiords National Monument and Wilderness?
    2. Will right-of-way clearing and road construction affect karst 
and cave resources?
    3. Will activities associated with right-of-way clearing and road 
construction degrade fish habitat?
    4. What are the possibilities for changing steam flow and creating 
barriers to fish migration?
    5. What will be the effect of clearing wetland and riparian areas 
for the right-of-way and of encroachment and modification of 
floodplains and estuarine areas?
    6. What are the implications of the proposed action on timber 
production and sensitive and rare plant species?
    7. What are the potential effects of right-of-way clearing on 
windthrow?
    8. How will the right-of-way clearing affect wildlife habitat, 
biodiversity, Habitat Conservation Areas, and rare and endangered 
species?
    9. Will wildlife species used for subsistence harvest be affected 
by the transmission line and access road? If so, how? Will this affect 
subsistence lifestyles?
    10. To what degree will the transmission line and access road 
affect the visual quality of key viewing areas, particularly at Orchard 
Lake and Eagle Lake, which have been mentioned as potential additions 
to the Wild and Scenic Rivers system?
    11. To what degree will the transmission line and access road 
change the quality and type of recreation opportunities?
    12. What are the economic implications for the cities of Wrangell 
and Petersburg?
    Based on the results of scoping and agency consultation, 
alternatives to the proposed action, including a ``no action'' 
alternative, will be developed for the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (DEIS).
    A series of five public workshops will be held upon completion of 
the Preliminary Draft EIS. These workshops will be informal sessions 
designed to explain to the public the study process and preliminary 
findings, answer questions, and highlight any problems that might need 
resolving before issuing the DEIS. Their location, date, and time will 
be announced in the local media. [[Page 2076]] 
    The DEIS is projected to be filed with the Environmental Protection 
Agency in February 1996. Public comment on the DEIS will be solicited 
for a minimum of 45 days from the date the Notice of Availability 
appears in the Federal Register. Subsistence hearings, as required by 
Section 8 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, are 
planned during this 45-day comment period.
    The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important 
to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public 
participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of 
DEIS's must structure their participation in the environmental review 
of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts an agency to the 
reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. 
v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519 553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that 
could be raised at the DEIS stage but that are not raised until after 
completion of the final EIS may be waived or dismissed by the courts. 
City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and 
Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Suppl. 1334, 1338 (E.D. 
Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, it is very important that 
those interested in this proposed action participate by the close of 
the 45-day comment period so that substantive comments and objections 
are made available to the Forest Service at a time when it can 
meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the final EIS.
    To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues 
and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the DEIS should be as 
specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific 
pages or chapters of the draft statement. Comments may also address the 
adequacy of the DEIS or the merits of the alternatives formulated and 
discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer to the Council 
on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing the procedural 
provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in 
addressing these points.
    Issuance of the Final Environmental Impact Statement is projected 
in November 1996. The responsible official for the decision is Linn 
Shipley, Acting District Ranger, Tongass National Forest, Ketchikan 
Ranger District, 3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901.

Permits

    Permits required for construction of the transmission line may 
include the following:

Federal

U.S. Forest Service
     Special use permit
     Permit for surveying the right-of-way
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
     Approval of the discharge of dredged or fill materials 
into waters of the United States under Section 404 of the Clean Water 
Act
     Approval of the construction of structures or work in 
navigable waters of the United States under Section 10 of the Rivers 
and Harbors Act of 1899.
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
     Notice of proposed construction

State

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
     Certificate of Reasonable Assurance regarding discharge of 
dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States
     Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit for the 
exhaust of any fossil-fuel-burning equipment used during construction
     Open-burn permit for waste burning
     Solid waste disposal permit
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
     Habitat Protection Permits when streams are to be crossed 
and when other wildlife habitats are affected
     Title 16 Fish Habitat permit for disturbing anadromous 
fish streams
Alaska Department of Natural Resources
     Tideland lease for structures below mean high water line
     Easement for crossing Alaska State uplands
     Permit required if more than 500 gallons per day is 
withdrawn from any stream
     Permits required for log transfers facilities

    Dated: December 28, 1994.
David D. Rittenhouse,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 95-280 Filed 1-5-95; 8:45 am]
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